Bought a betta bowl

[appleblossom]

Well, I accidentally went to my lfs today and bought a 2.5 gallon bowl on a random impulse to keep a betta in there in my bedroom.

Now That I have got it and set it up with some aquamel plus, gravel and a plastic (eugh) plant, I'm having doubts...

The bowl has no heating and no filtration, and I know that bettas are supposed to be able to live in tiny dirty spaces like cups in US fish stores, I am worried that if I did get a betta for this bowl he might be unhappy and die

My room gets quite cold at times, is there any way I could heat the water a little? I dont think there is room for a heater in there....

Would I be better getting an ADF or do they need moderate temperatures too?


Any input gratefully received before I do something stupid and kill a pretty little fishy

 

[sunflower]

Could you use a reptile heat pad underneath the tank?

 

[rollntider]

not sure in your part of the world but a small heater (depending on your area of the world and tank type) they sell 25 watt heaters that heat the tank quite well. I have one on my daughters 2.5 and it keeps it at 77 all the time...

 

[Draven]

Roll, is that 25W running all day/all night?

 

[appleblossom]

Well i had a look for a reptile heat pad and came across this!

Its too big for the bowl I have but I'll keep it in mind for future tanks

I'll keep looking for a little heater....

 

[appleblossom]

Rena Cal Heater
25W
Aquarium Vol 10-30 litres
Length 25cm



Its too big to fit in the tank...anyone know anyone that makes 'mini' heaters

 

[jacblades]

these come in 8, 16, and 25 watts. heat wave

 

[appleblossom]

Ooh they look ideal, shame they are in the US. I'll keep my eyes open for UK equivalents

 

[BronzeWolf]

In UK you can get an ecotherm 25W heater that is 8" total length. This works perfectly in a 2. 5 Gallon tank.

 

[Hitman]

Heating is one thing.... and it's pretty much covered...

Now about filtration... I would recommend you a small and simple sponge filter for your little fellow... Otherwise, stick to frequent water changes (30%, 2-3 times per week). Be carefull not to overfeed and polute more your bowl...

 

[appleblossom]

Right, well I went to a different fish store and asked the guy what he thought, he didnt really have any suggestions but did sell me a reptile heat mat to try under the bowl. It's only 14 watts so could i leave it on 24/7 or just at night to keep the temperature up? I'm going to reduce the amount of substrate I have in there, some how it seems like maybe the substrate will absorb all the heat or something?
Anyway I will try that out this afternoon and see if it has any effect, if not then I'll keep looking around, and if it does work, then you are right Hutman, filtration is next on the list....

I bought coral sand with algal something in....basically it is porous to give the bacteria more surface area to grow on in the substrate, so do I need a sponge filter too for the bacteria to live on?

I have had a look on ebay and found this, or this. But having never used one before I dont know what else I would need to go with it.... help the newbie!

 

[BronzeWolf]

Hmm if you only have a 2.6 Gallon bowl (I dont know if bowl you mean round or a sqaure tank) the first sponge filter is may be a bit too tall for your tank, also i cannot see an outlet for the tubing for the air pump to fit in, the price of the air pump is not any cheaper than a brand new one. The second sponge filter you would need to findout the dimensions of it, i dont think the horizontal alignment of the sponge is very practical for a small bowl you really need a vertical one, both these sponges are not any cheaper than what you can buy brand new, a NEW Algarde Biofoam45 sponge is about £3, what you have to remeber is that you also need to buy an airpump that connects to this sponge type of filter, the smallest flow airpump you find is 75ltrs/per hour in a small tank like yours it may be a bit strong i have them in my 4. 5 gallon tanks and they are strong, the quietest airpump you can buy on the market is the Interpet AVI mini Airvolution.
You need to test your heat mat for any hot spots
ALSO
You need check on the pH level of your water since you added coral sand in it, im not sure but i think coral sand is used for marine tanks so there will be a buffer in it.. BUT i may be wrong (im sure the folks here will put you straight on that one)

HTH

 

[appleblossom]

Ok, well the bowl (round bowl like a traditional goldfish bowl) is now on the heat mat. The mat says it uses infra red heat which I am told is different to a normal aquarium heater. The idea is that in a vivarium ih teahs the contents ie substrate and decorations rather than the air...I hope the water counts, but I will soon find out

Ph I will get my sest kit from my boyfriends house and check out what the water paramaters are now.

Went back to the shop I bought the bowl from and asked about a filter, they said you cant get sponge filters like the ones I linked to on ebay and I wouldnt be able to sue any small standard filter because of the shape of teh bowl etc which is fair enough...
He then told me they are getting in a stock of 'special' bowl filters which go under the substrate...well for a start undergravel filters are notoriously bad, and I am usind sand as substrate which I am sure would just clog it all up....


Maybe I should try to cycle it without a filter and see if the substrate is enough for the bacteria to colonise??

 

[BronzeWolf]

If you got yourself a rectangular acrylic tank you would eliminate most of the problems your facing, in my opinion a round bowl is not practical, sometimes doing things out of impulse is not the best.

If your going to cycle that tank, which i have read is very hard and really not necessary. my one bettas is in a 4. 5 unfiltered tank and every week i just chuck out all the water and put fresh one in. But if you were going to cycle the tank you would not be able to do it in the traditional method of not changing the water till ammonia and nitrite hits peak and then zero's out.... you will kill your betta, the only way to cycle your tank is really slowly by still doing water changes every week, but to be honest i have done readings on a tank after a week and ammonia content is very low, its enough to just do 70% water changes per week, you can help keep the tank clean by feeding your betta every other day, this keeps the ammonia level down.

When your lfs said "you cant get sponges like that one on ebay" what he means is that his shop dosent stock that kind.... if you went to a big outlet like maidenhead aquatics they stock them or buying then online is real easy.

 

[appleblossom]

Ok thanks Bronzewolf,

the guy in the shop seemed to be suggesting that those sponge filters simply dont exist, but probably because he wanted me to buy one of the filters they had instead.
Unfortunately a square tank wasnt really an option as the shelf unit is triangular and they dont seem to make corner tanks that small.....

The tank and water is heating up nicely now, So I will keep a supply of water to do frequent changes and keep feeding down to a minimum. If things start to go badly then I have other cycled tanks the betta could go in, I also got hold of some amquel plus which claims to remove chlorine, chloramine, nitrite, nitrate and ammonia so that might be worth a shot.